


Take My Heart (And Keep It Close)

by discountghost



Category: EXO (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood and Gore, M/M, Monsters, Secret Police, Violence, dimension hopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:27:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22682485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/discountghost/pseuds/discountghost
Summary: Some people get chocolate hearts. Some people don't.
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai/Park Jimin (BTS)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20
Collections: Ultimate Top Kim Jongin Fic Fest (Valentine's Special)





	Take My Heart (And Keep It Close)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I just wanted to give a warning that there are mentions of gore and violence enacted upon secondary characters in this fic. If you aren't comfortable with it, please feel free to move on.

“What…” Jimin swallowed, tried not to think about the way the object felt in the box. “Is this?”

“What do you think it is?”

Jimin had to remind himself that this Jongin — J øngin — might not have had the same concept of a Valentine’s Day gift as he did. He glanced at the box before looking to the present he’d wrapped, brows furrowed. He thought a watch would be nice, given the way the other seemed to flit about without much of a concept of time. Apparently, that, too, was different from his universe. But not as important to what lay in the box in front him. He hadn’t opened it yet — frightened marginally by the way whatever was inside moved.

Voice light, but laced with concern, “Did you stuff a kitten in here?”

“Wouldn’t it be making noise with all that shaking you were doing?” He had a point.

J øngin plopped down beside him on the couch, expectant. Jimin forced a smile to his face. A gift was more than he had expected, if he were being honest. A pleasant surprise. But it turned sour now, as he unwrapped the box. Despite it being a deep red, he could still make out the faintly deeper red tones on the box. It’d seeped into it like something wet, and his heart dropped.

“A dead kitten?” He hoped it would serve as some weak joke.  J øngin shook his head.

What he lifted off the box to see made his stomach turn. But — he, on a level, had expected this.  J øngin came from a society where atrocities weren’t uncommon. He’d likened it to what would serve as this universe’s hell. Maybe it was hell. Regardless, it must have been customary there to send lovers the hearts of other people because that was what knocked around the inside of the box. The blood had dried, but it still seemed to glimmer in the light with something slicking it. Like it was something diamond-encrusted. When he looked to his lover, Jimin found the man beaming, pleased with himself.

“So, do you like it?”

“I, uh…” He glanced back to it. “God, no.”

J øngin frowned, resembled too closely a kicked puppy. He really wished he didn’t in situations like these. The frown went away for a moment when Jimin kissed the tip of his nose. “I’m gonna trust that whoever this heart was from was a fairly terrible person.”

“Of course! He tried to rob an old lady.”

Jimin could — for good reason — picture it perfectly:  J øngin with his hand in a mugger’s chest while an old woman either fainted or had a heart attack in the background. He winced. “You made sure she was okay, right?”

“She had a bump on her head.” He shrugged, cuddled in close to Jimin. “Why don’t you like it?”

“It’s someone’s heart.”

“Don’t they give hearts to people on this Earth?”

_ “Chocolate _ hearts.” He covered the box again and set it down on the table. His lap felt damp. “Hey — why don’t we go out to see a movie? Maybe get dinner?”

J øngin seemed to consider it, buried his face in the crook of Jimin’s neck. His breath was warm against his skin as the other spoke. “Only if I can eat you later.” There was a smile to go with the kiss he pressed just below Jimin’s jaw as one hand smoothed over his thigh. His heart thudded in his chest, and all he could do was nod; he suddenly wasn’t as interested in a movie, now.

It still felt...strange. He held  J øngin’s hand and was reminded that it was not the same as Jongin’s. That  _ that _ Jongin, the one he had never confessed his feelings to, was gone. Sometimes there would be overlap and Jimin would feel his heart squeeze up. But then there were moments that reminded him just how different the two were. He squeezed the other’s hand, smiled a little wider when he looked at him. 

The movie had been good. Unremarkable, but a lot of movies around this time of year tended to be. The plot was unmemorable and he was almost certain it was just a remake of a foreign film. He didn’t mind it much; it had gotten him out of the house and a means to dispose of the heart he’d been gifted.  J øngin had looked mildly upset when they dropped the box off — rewrapped — at the edge of store counter. 

It was enough upset that it convinced Jimin to let them hang around for someone to open it.  J øngin made it easy for them to skirt around the cameras. Made it easier for them to make their escape as someone  _ did _ open the box. The resounding shrieks were probably the way he should have reacted to it, but he’d found that he’d gotten numb to seeing those sorts of things.

J øngin squeezed Jimin’s hand back, grin on the side of devilish in answer.  _ God, _ he was beautiful. Messy hair that fell into his face and eyes with a sort of manic light that never left him. He was like what those movies depicted; the bad boy type everyone wanted to be, but never could be. Not really. Then again, most people didn’t come from an alternate dimension where killing someone was a way of life.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, pulled from their little moment by it. He sighed, slipped his free hand into his pocket to get it. The caller ID had his heart sinking and he glanced to his boyfriend with a less than pleased look. Jimin slowed in their walk, grip on the other slackened.  J øngin mirrored his displeasure, stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned up against the nearest wall.

Work conversations weren’t meant to be had in public. Jimin ducked into an alley, lowered his voice. “Yes, this is Park speaking.”

“We got another one for you.” Yoongi sounded grave — but he was always serious. Tended to be when you worked for the kind of people they did. “They want it dealt with tonight.”

“Seriously? Was no one else available to do it?”

“If there was, I wouldn’t be calling you.” Yoongi sighed, and Jimin could hear the chair he sat in creak as he leaned back. “I know you probably had something planned for today.” He didn’t say it, but Jimin appreciated the silent  _ Sorry _ that lingered between his words.

“Yeah, I did, actually.” He glanced back to  J øngin, sighed. “I guess it’ll have to wait.”

“You’ll make it back to your interdimensional loverboy, no worries.”

“Gee, thanks.” 

Jimin hadn’t even hung up when he felt a presence behind him.  J øngin’s impatience was something that they would need to work on, if not find a way around. But when he turned, words on his tongue to deliver to the mood-souring news, it was not  J øngin behind him. It was instead a man twice his size, face a splotchy red in the faint light that reached the alleyway from the streetlights. He missed the longer days of summer.

A hand reached out for him, firm on his shoulder as it pushed him back into the wall. The man, incoherent and most likely drunk, seemed to struggle to keep his movements coordinated. The light hit him better, and no; this was not a case of a simple aggressive drunk. His skin bubbled grotesquely, boils forming over his flesh. Hard welts disfigured his face, his eyes nearly swollen shut. His lips opened to sputter something, but came out more like the hoarse squeal of a pig in heat.

Why did he end up with this kind of stuff? The man lurched forward, pressed him harder into the wall. Either he was trying to ask for help or he was completely gone; Jimin couldn’t tell just yet. The last time he’d dealt with a metamorphic parasite, they’d already been too far gone to do any saving. He clenched his jaw, kneed the other in the abdomen — to no affect. The creature continued its transformation from man to misshapen beast. Limbs weighed down as they changed the body attempted to compensate for the new weight.

Another hand reached for him, the space filled with heavy breathing. It was closer to wheezing, breath grating through a thin passage as the creature struggled to breathe right.He ducked as the other hand slackened, freeing himself. But he ran further into the alley; the last thing he needed was for the creature to fully realize itself and seek out other targets. If it had the mind to go on a rampage in public, he’d find himself with a lot more to deal with today.

The crack of bone as the skeleton finally caught up with the rest of the transformation sounded and another bellow left the creature. Too much noise; people would start to get curious. Jimin kept going, until he reached the other exit. He glanced either way; a system of alleys. Great. He could trap it here.

He didn’t feel so much as hear the impact. It echoed in his ears as he slid down to the ground, curling in on himself. Pain shot through him, coursed through his limbs. When he opened his eyes, he saw stars. What had been a simple plan had turned into a bit of a problem. The creature loomed over him, sniffled and snorted. It worked leathery lips and a moist snout in his direction before it paused. Looked up and behind itself. Its claws dug into brick and pavement as it used its arms to turn itself around. Husky body too big for a smaller lower half, hooved and stumbling. 

“I was wondering why you were taking so long with your call.”  J øngin peered around the creature to stare at Jimin.

He cracked a small smile. “Had to catch a wayward pig.”

“I didn’t know they let pigs out in the city like this.”

"That's not typically something we let happen."

Their conversation was interrupted by another bellow, the creature either annoyed with being ignored or finally having come to some sort of conclusion on what to do with the newcomer that was Jøngin. The creature rushed him, pushed itself forward with its hands as it ran on all fours. Jøngin dodged it easily, watched it skid dangerously close to the mouth of the alley before forcing itself to turn again. It grunted, huffed as it shook its head and tried again. Dipped low before launching itself at a just barely laughing Jøngin.

He didn't laugh for long, though. His gaze drifted to Jimin on the ground as the creature barreled forward. Before Jimin could blink, the other was before him, and then they were gone again. The clatter of brick and the smack of flesh sounded behind them, and when Jimin turned his head, he spotted the creature down another alley entirely. Jøngin had blinked them out of the way, and his amusement was gone. Jimin's heart beat double time, faster than it had when the creature had first approached him. That look on Jøngin never boded well for whoever might be the subject of it. But for Jimin; well, he had different opinions on it.

The other set him down gingerly, cradled his head a moment before pressing a kiss to his forehead. Sometimes he marveled at how gentle the interdimensional man could be. Maybe that was something he'd learned for Jiin's benefit. He liked to think that it was, given the way he was with most everyone else. Jøngin's steps were sure as they carried him away from Jimin and toward the beast. It squealed, struggled to pull itself free as Jøngin blinked closer. The beast, at this point, was rather impressive in size. It could certainly go on to dwarf the buildings around it if it weren't kept in check or dealt with. Jimin sat up, craned his neck to watch as Jøngin faced the thing.

The other seemed to have no problems with the enemy he had chosen to take on. Perhaps he even liked it better than the usual manhunts that they'd allowed him on. He braced for impact as the creature swiped at him again. It missed as he blinked out of the way, there and then not. The creature let loose another bellow of frustration and swatted away whatever it felt it could. Jøngin toyed with it a moment longer before he disappeared from sight.

Jimin's stomach rolled. That couldn't be good. Not in the slightest. The creature's stomach bulged, its skin moved. A boil popped and it looked about itself, confusion clear in its little grunts. It took a moment longer to look around before curling in on itself, grunts turning into pained squeals. Blood spilled from its lips as Jøngin's knife poked through its skin. It gurgled and snuffled, clawing at itself as if that would help. As if it meant to dig Jøngin out of its skin. but the knife carved upward and the creature froze. Its great limbs dropped, thudded heavy against the ground. It rocked, swayed from side to side as its eyes rolled back. The whites of its eyes showed as it fell forward, tongue lolling and blood pooling under its mouth.

Jøngin's knife carved through the back, the corpse moving as he freed itself from the confines of leathery skin and slippery organs. The man was coated in fluid and blood;  _ God,  _ he was going to smell so bad later on. He'd need to get thrown into a shower pronto. He turned, and stooped down to pull at something. The corpse jolted as he dipped his knife into the flesh. When he stood upright, walking over the creature to drop down to the pavement, Jimin might have laughed. Jøngin smiled wide, happy.

In his hands was a heart easily thrice the size of the one that had been in the box. It was still and a light mist wafted over it as the cold hit it. Jimin swallowed, winced as he sat up when the heart was presented to him like a trophy.

"Is this better?"

"It ain't chocolate, but it'll have to do, I suppose."

Jøngin grinned. "I could always just cover you in chocolate."

"That might not be a bad idea, if it didn't feel like my ribs were broken." Jimin stuck his hand out to the other, groaned as he was pulled up.

"I can work around that."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
